The German association of small to medium sized independent cable operators Ruachverband Rundfunkempfangs- und Kabelanlagen (FRK) plans its own play out centre. It will form part of a strategy to make them more independent from their big brothers, Kabel Deutschland, Unitymedia and Kabel BW.
According to FRK chairman Heinz-Peter Labonte, the three big operators have a plan to overbuild the smaller networks to also include the so called ‘level 4’, which would give the big three direct access to consumers. Now, the three have only level 4 access in a limited number of homes, with the remaining ones having to be reached via small level 4 operators.
In this project, the FRK plans to work closely with the SES Astra pay-TV platform Entavio.